38 MEMOIR OF 



thick ; its tlu'oat is small, and its stomacli ; there is 

 gall in the liver. It does not ahound in fat. Ko 

 sexual difference is to be found in them, and they 

 are produced, says Aristotle, spontaneously. It 

 feeds on mud, weeds, and slime, and mostly during 

 the night. It attains the length of thirty feet in 

 the Ganges. According to Aristotle, it lives only 

 ill clear water; in lakes, rivers, and the sea also; 

 't descends from rivers into the ocean, and lives sepa- 

 ratelyfrora other fishes. It has been disputed whether 

 they mutually devour each other. They become very 

 tame, so that, according to Pliny and iElian, you may 

 supply them with earrings. Its natural period of life 

 is eight years, and it can live out of the water for six 

 days. The sea-eel is more worthy of commendation 

 than the fresh-water one. It is held sacred by 

 the Egyptians, and is sacrificed to the gods by the 

 Boeotians. It is exceedingly juicy. Eustachius 

 maintains it is the best of fishes, whilst Galen says 

 it is never good. Aristotle narrates the methods 

 by which it is captured, and observes it is the only 

 fish which does not float when it is dead." 



These extracts describing the true fishes, and 

 those inhabitants of the water which are not so, 

 along with other details, will convey a tolerably 

 accurate idea of the first great division of Salviani's 

 work. It is an Ichthyological Dictionary of its time, 

 specifying the most important particulars kno^vn of 

 each species, and referring to all previous w^orks for 

 the details. Its perusal may remind the reader 

 of more modern systems of natural history, and 



